Street and outdoor area lights are installed either by the government or by private entities to provide illumination for safety, recreation, security, and other purposes. Such lights are often fitted with a National Electrical Manufactures Association locking three pole receptacle. This receptacle often accepts a twist lock photocontrol to control individual lights or a shorting cap when groups of lights are controlled by a common switch/relay. These street and area lights are powered by whatever is available for line voltage (nominally from 120 volt alternating current to 480 volt alternating current) electrical systems.
There are photocontrol and other devices available that install onto the street light (National Electrical Manufactures Association) locking three pole receptacle and provide a connection for switched or constant nominal line voltage as auxiliary power for other devices including, for example: holiday or decorative lights, WiFi and other communication systems, Universal Power Supply systems, and surveillance cameras. It is very convenient to access line voltage power from a street or area light using these recepticals for use by other devices installed on or near a light pole or other National Electrical Manufactures Association locking three pole installations. However, until the present invention, the technology was limited to providing: 1. continuous, 2. switched, and 3. timed and switched power. These all produced output at the electrical system nominal line voltage. If an auxiliary device required other than the nominal line voltage for operation, it needed to have either internal or external conversion means to convert the line voltage into a power that was usable by the device. An example of this kind of retrofit device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,731,551 (Gibbs et al.). The disclosure of this patent is hereby incorporated in the present application by reference, as if it were set forth in its entirety herein.
This, in fact, required manufactures of such devices to either provide either internal or external transformer/rectification means, both of which complicate sales and device inventory control.
It is, therefore, a primary object of the present invention to expand the possibilities of tapping power from a street or area light power source by providing a wide range of auxiliary outputs.
Another object of the invention is to provide the versatility to choose the auxiliary output or multiple outputs for a given time, season, or circumstance.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a system and a device to allow customers to select the nature of the output tapped from the primary source so that their application can be applied to a properly equipped source without requiring internal or additional transformation/rectification.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an auxiliary power source from street or area lights which will provide power to such items as radios, cameras, and other devices, which power is already transformed to their power requirements, reducing the heat produced, extending the life, and reducing the cost of these products.
Another object is to provide a system whereby the radio, cameras, and other devices' connection points could be standardize to accept one connector for a single line input rather than having different models for the various electrical system line voltages. This would improve their manufacturing efficiency, reduce their costs, and simplify their inventory.
A still further object of this invention is to provide a product which would provide pre-established protection for the radios, cameras and other devices from line surge damage (for example, from lightning) which is common to street and area lights.
With these and other objects in view, as will be apparent to those skilled in the art, the invention resides in the combination of parts set forth in the specification and covered by the claims appended hereto, it being understood that changes in the precise embodiment of the invention herein disclosed may be made within the scope of what is claimed without departing from the spirit of the invention.